


The Misadventures of Ladybug!Merlin and Chat!Arthur

by ursus_mari



Series: Miraculous AU [2]
Category: Merlin (TV), Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Episode: s01 Le Dessinateur | The Evillustrator, Episode: s01 Origines | Origins Parts 1-2, M/M, Miraculous Ladybug AU, Reverse Crush (Miraculous Ladybug), arthur pendragon continues to be a disaster, does it count if it's different characters, except now he's sometimes a disaster in a leather catsuit, kind of?, the umbrella scene, variety is important
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:14:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24812158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ursus_mari/pseuds/ursus_mari
Summary: Short drabbles where I stick Merlin and Arthur in MLB for my own amusement.Mostly corresponding to specific episodes and scenes.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Series: Miraculous AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1786087
Comments: 4
Kudos: 34





	1. Origins

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote a scene from Animan earlier that should probably be part of this, but eh.
> 
> You should definitely have at least a basic understanding of MLB for most of these.

Merlin scowled at the sky, cursing it for its poor timing. _Today_ of all days, it chose to pour rain, the day he forgot an umbrella? The day he defeated a supervillain for the first time _ever_? Typical. He thought ladybugs were meant to be good luck. Maybe the world just hated him. Speaking of…

“Oi, Emrys!” a stupid, prattish voice called.

Merlin groaned and looked to the sky. Perhaps ladybugs just soaked up your good luck, he thought bitterly. “Fuck off, Pendragon!”

“Oh, for- _Mer_ lin!”

“What do you want!?” Merlin snapped, turning to glare at his classmate’s obnoxious face only to have an umbrella shoved at him. 

“Here!” Arthur was scowling fiercely at the ground as if it had personally offended him, and the tips of his ears were red. 

Merlin blinked in surprise. “What?”

“Just… _take it_ , you idiot,” Arthur growled, still looking anywhere but at Merlin.

“I don’t…” Merlin looked from the umbrella to Arthur’s face and back, still baffled.

Arthur made a noise of frustration and looked to the sky as if in prayer, which Merlin thought was immensely unfair given that Arthur was the one being weird and confusing. Eventually Arthur grabbed Merlin’s hand and forced the umbrella into it then dropped Merlin’s hand like a hot coal.

“Arthur, what the fuck.”

“Rain- car-” Arthur said, gesturing first to the sky and then to the black car in front of the school as if that made any sense whatsoever. He and Merlin stared at each other for a moment, thunder rumbling in the distance, and then Arthur made a helpless noise and walked as quickly as he could through the rain to the car.

Merlin could still see the red tips of his ears as he stared at the back of his head, and he grinned as understanding dawned. “You could apologize like a normal person, you know, you prat!” he called.

Arthur tensed but didn’t turn back.

“You should be nicer to him,” Tikki sighed, flying up to press against Merlin’s cheek. “He’s trying.”

Merlin snorted and gave her a grin. “Nah, he’s still a prat.”

(“You’re a disaster, kid,” Plagg taunted, peeking out of Arthur’s pocket.

Arthur scowled. “Shut up.”

“Ooh, you’re blushing! What, got a crush on tall and scrawny over there?”

“I said, shut up!”)

* * *

Two figures watched from across the street in the shadows of a building.

“Are you sure it’s these two?” the girl hummed, colorless but for blue eyes and a matching crystalline pendant dangling from her wrist. 

“They are two sides of the same coin,” the man beside her sniffed, exhaling a puff of smoke, his pipe a dull reddish gold. His eyes were a startling, almost luminous shade of gold, and when he grinned, his teeth were unnervingly sharp. “It is their destiny.”

“You never get any less vague, do you?”

He simply blew a cloud of smoke in her face in response.

The man offered the girl his arm, and as they walked away their reflection in the water flickered, giving only a glimpse of gold and white scales, reddish smoke become tongues of flame.


	2. The Evillustrator

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat Noir approaches Merlin about his upcoming date with the Evillustrartor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is your Ladrien dynamic, kids. These two are flustered, smitten disasters and it was delightful to write.

Chat stares at the image of Merlin on his screen, smiling and goofy and just generally adorable. “I need you to protect him on this date, work with him to get the possessed item,” Ladybug is saying. “I’ve got a prior engagement I can’t get out of.”

Chat barely registers this, because… well, Merlin’s hair is curling around his ridiculous, wonderful ears, and his eyes are practically sparkling and so blue, and his cheekbones are stupidly lovely when he smiles, and his smile is wide and beautiful, and fuck.

“Chat?” Ladybug says, sounding annoyed. “Watch him?”

“Yeah!” Chat says, hastily tearing his gaze away. “Yeah, I’ll watch him.”

“Alright then,” Ladybug says, voice heavy with sarcasm and perhaps a hint of trepidation? “I’ll leave him in your capable hands.”

“Right,” Chat says, but the call’s already cut off. He blinks at his reflection, then smoothes down his hair a bit, feeling unaccountably nervous. Merlin’s already got a horrible view of Arthur due to his unfortunate tendency to act like an ass when face to face with his crush, and he’d rather not ruin his image of Chat Noir, hero of Paris, as well, but, well. A mask makes all the difference, doesn’t it? He’ll be fine. Right?

Oh, who is he kidding? This is going to be an unmitigated disaster.

* * *

Chat takes a deep breath, checks his reflection one last time in the nearby window, and knocks on the door to Merlin and Hunith’s apartment. There’s a series of bangs, and then Merlin opens the door, looking adorably ruffled, his hair sticking up in clumps and his eyes wide. “Chat Noir!” he says, his voice higher than usual. “Er, what brings you here?”

Chat closes his eyes for a moment, fortifying himself against all of… that, opens them, and gives what he hopes is a convincing smile. “I’ve been told that the Evillustrator has forced you into a date, so I’ll be accompanying you for your protection,” he says, relaxing a little. This isn’t so bad after all, with the mask. “Ladybug’s got a prior engagement, so it’ll just be me.”

“That’s fine,” Merlin says, sounding a little breathless. “Thanks.”

On a whim, Chat draws on his partner’s confidence and general shamelessness. Ladybug’s probably not got any trouble charming the people he likes, after all. Chat takes Merlin’s hand and presses a kiss to his knuckles, murmuring, “My pleasure.”

Merlin, to Chat’s surprise, flushes a deep, flattering shade of red and squeaks, “oh.”

Chat curses himself for following Ladybug’s highly dubious example and drops Merlin’s hand, straightening. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“Oh! No, it’s… fine.” Merlin looks at Chat through his lashes, cheeks still a lovely shade of pink. “You’re fine.”

Chat’s chest goes tight and warm, and his stomach flips. “Right. Good.” Chat blows out a breath and gives Merlin a tentative smile. “Well. I’d love your help with defeating the Evillustrator.”

“Yeah, happy to help.” Merlin grins at him. “What do you need?”

“Just get the possessed item off him, if you can,” Chat says, feeling rather giddy. “Ladybug and I will take care of the rest.”

“I can do that.” Merlin’s shy grin is doing _things_ to Chat’s insides; warm, bubbly things.

“Well, I’ll be there at seven,” Chat offers, unable to check his grin. “You won’t see me, but I won’t let him put you in any danger.”

“My knight in shining armor,” Merlin says, flushing a little and giving Chat a frankly dangerously adorable smile. _That smile should be illegal,_ Chat thinks faintly. _Warning, if exposed, heart may implode from sheer cuteness._

“If you want,” Chat says. “I’ll-- I’ll see you there. Good luck.” He gives an awkward little bow and hightails it for the roof before he does something stupid, like kissing Merlin right then and there.

Once he’s reasonably sure no one can see him, he gives a celebratory little fist pump and lets himself smile wide enough to split his face.

(After watching Chat leap over the rooftops until he’s completely out of view, Merlin goes in, buries his face in the nearest pillow, and screams. His mother and Tikki both laugh at him, but they don’t get it.

_Chat Noir just flirted with me,_ Merlin thinks dazedly. _Fuck._

He promptly goes back to screaming.)


	3. Origins (again)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merlin and Arthur face Hawkmoth for the first (well, second, technically, but it's the same akuma so it shouldn't count, in their opinion) time. But first, they've got to work out how to work together without ripping each other's throats out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Watch me switch from posting serious canon era gen fic to shippy self-indulgent AU fic of a children's cartoon at lightning speed, lmao. Consistency? Who's that? (Though this was, coincidentally, also written months ago because I haven't been doing shit lately)
> 
> This was mostly an excuse to have them bicker, frankly.
> 
> Also, catch me only posting fic from 4-6am. It's a problem. Be warned: editing has been sparse. Feel free to let me know if I've fucked up particularly badly so I can fix it.
> 
> I dunno, I'm tired.
> 
> (Contains (selective) use of lines from the episode)

When Merlin slams into Arthur, the first thing Arthur does is be rude about it, because he’s _Arthur,_ the spoiled, lonely, socially incompetent prat, which means they fight. Wholeheartedly. And after an exhausting fight made ten times harder by their squabbling and inexperience, the butterfly gets away because they’re too busy accusing the other of hindering them or not following their lead.

Then, afterwards, they both feel doubt and fear, and maybe Merlin tries to give this responsibility away because of the paralyzing terror of failure, and maybe Arthur doesn't because he'll fail one hundred times if it gets him out of that godforsaken house, just a tiny bit of freedom. And Merlin fails to give up thrilling power and crushing responsibility, so it doesn't matter, in the end. When the stone monsters come to life, they get out there, doing their best to protect the people of the city.

They still don't like each other.

But they work out a tenuous ceasefire to protect people, and it's going alright right up until someone calls them incompetent, and Merlin falls to pieces a bit. Arthur, though he feels just as much doubt as his partner, puts on his well practiced, fake confident model face and snarks Merlin into shape because while he doesn’t trust himself, he might trust Merlin, and that’s when Merlin starts to fall, though bless his heart he fights it all the way down.

* * *

“Look.” Arthur sighs, keeping forceful eye contact. “We are really, truly shit at this.”

“Oh, that’s a brilliant pep talk, that is,” Merlin replies waspishly. “You should be a motivational speaker. What’s your suggestion then? Leave the people of Paris to their fates?”

”Will you just-- listen?” Arthur takes a deep breath and firmly stops himself from rising to the bait. “We’re bad at this, this whole teamwork thing, I don’t think there are two worse matched people in the world--”

“I’m sorry, was there a point to this?” Merlin asks incredulously. “The great Chat Noir would save the day if only his partner were not so incompetent? Could you be any more arrogant?”

“For god’s sake, you stubborn idiot, I’m trying to compliment you!”

“Seriously? That’s your idea of a compliment? You’re shit at this.”

“And you’re the most infuriating person I’ve ever met!”

The policeman who’d insulted them in the first place was looking between them with wide eyes like he was watching a tennis match.

“Oh, lovely, is that another compliment then?”

“I--” Arthur takes another deep breath and reminds himself of why he’s trying this. “We’re shit at this, but you aren’t!”

Merlin stops, his retort dying on his tongue. “I’m sorry?”

Arthur runs a hand through his (much messier, he wasn’t sure how he felt about that) hair. “You were the one who noticed the paper in the clenched fist, and you were the one who figured out how to get him to open it. You caught her, saved her life,” Arthur says, voice soft as he gestures to Vivian. “You’re good at this, better than me.”

Merlin just stands and stares, wide eyed.

“So you need to come up with a plan, and I’ll back your play, because there are people in danger, and they need you, Ladybug.” Arthur lays his hands on Merlin’s shoulders and looks directly into his eyes. “Alright?”

Merlin, cheeks heating for reasons he can’t entirely explain, nods. “Yeah, alright.” He grins, wide and sharp, and feels powerful, suddenly. “Let’s do this.”

Stoneheart roars, then, a veritable font of black butterflies emerging from his mouth. The butterflies form into a face, which says in a deep, thundering voice, “People of Paris, listen carefully. I am Hawkmoth. Ladybug, Chat Noir, hand over your Miraculouses, the earrings of the Ladybug and the ring of the Black Cat. Then everything can go back to normal. You’ve done enough harm to these poor people.”

Merlin and Arthur exchange a glance, and Merlin snorts. “Sorry, what was it-- Hawkmoth?” Merlin calls. “Yeah. Let’s be clear here. It’s not our fault that you’ve decided to send supervillains to terrorize people.”

“Our job is to get rid of you,” Arthur adds. “So, that’s what we’ll do. We’ll find you, and you’ll give us the butterfly Miraculous, and you won’t hurt anyone else.” He shifts his glance to Merlin. “Ready to rectify our mistakes?”

“You bet.”

The face roars, but Merlin’s already taken off at a run, launching himself into the air with his yoyo. He twists in the air, cutting the yoyo through Hawkmoth’s face again and again, capturing huge swaths of black butterflies with each pass. The butterflies scatter too late, and within a matter of seconds he’s captured them all. Merlin lands on a beam above Stoneheart’s platform.

“No matter what Hawkmoth throws at us, Ladybug and Chat Noir will do everything in our power to protect you!” Merlin yells, then looks at his partner on the ground. He can’t see Arthur’s face, but he can imagine his smug smirk, and Merlin grins. “That’s a promise!”

With that, he raises his yoyo up and lets loose the font of purified white butterflies.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! You can find me on [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/ursus-mari)! (@ursus-mari) Come poke me with a stick about this au, tell me something you'd like to see, or just chat about Merlin, I promise I'm friendly!


End file.
